Chapter Fifteen

Sasuke frowned up at the sight that came to him once he and Naruto entered the area that the others had gone. In his mind, Sasuke had always imagined that Konoha Village was a small one- somewhere in his head he had thought that he had seen all of it. And then places like this showed up and he was left to wonder how much he really knew about the village he was born in. He had never seen Arena Forty-Four, with its humongous trees and ominous feel. Most of the area beyond the fence was shrouded in shadows, and a wild scent drifted through the air, a mixture of rotting vegetation and other plant life. Sasuke glanced over at Sakura and Naruto- the girl was gazing up at the trees apprehensively while Naruto gazed emptily at the dirt, eyes glazed over.

"This place is weird," Kiba commented, sniffing the air.

The woman named Anko grinned at him. "Yeah, and you're about to find out why its called the Forest of Death."

Kiba snorted. "Wow, real scary..." the sarcasm in his voice was thick. The woman grinned at him, her eyes twinkling maliciously, just before she tossed a kunai at the genin. Sasuke barely caught the movement, or when she appeared behind Inuzuka, licking the cut she had made on his face.

"Oh," she breathed. "You sound like one of the ones who die first."

Sasuke watched warily as a long haired man appeared behind her, wearing a yellow sun hat and a robe- like shirt that came to his elbows and reached his knees, splitting on the sides. Under that he wore a long sleeved purple shirt and pants. Tied around his waist was a thick purple rope wrapped like a bow at his back. Long black hair framed a pallid effeminate face with dark wide lips. Mitarashi spun a kunai at the Grass- nin just as a thick tongue slid from his mouth, hold her kunai.

"You're kunai..." the man said around the tongue, and Sasuke thought it was strange that he could speak so clearly around it.

"Thanks," Anko replied, looking back at him, seeming only slightly amused. "But don't sneak up behind me unless you're looking to die." She took the kunai from him, and Sasuke watched in slight disgust as the unnatural tongue slid back into the Grass-nin's mouth.

The Grass-nin smiled. "Sorry, I just get excited by the sight and scent of blood. And besides, you cut my hair," He turned and walked calmly back to his teammates, who were dressed similar to him, but both were bald. Sasuke glanced at Naruto again and was relieved to see that his teammate was watching the Grass-nin go. Good, the crazy seemed to have left him for a while, which meant he would be mostly functional. Naruto did good when he was mostly functional.

"Alright people, I'm going to pass out these Agreement forms to every one of you, but first let me explain the rules of this part of the Exam so that you know what you're getting into. After you've signed these, you'll head on over to that booth behind me and turn in your papers," she gestured over her shoulder at a booth where two chuunin sat. "This is Practice Area Forty- Four. In the middle of it is a tower and river that runs throughout the forested area. There are forty-four locked gates surrounding this area, and from the gates to the tower is about ten kilometers." She then proceeded to tell them the rules. Seventy-eight people, twenty-six Teams, each trying to get to the tower within a five day period. They had to use every survival tactic that they had learned thus far, and also assault other Teams that had either the Heaven Scroll or the Earth Scroll.

Sasuke had to hold back his excitement as she warned them of the dangers of man-eating beasts and poisonous insects. He glanced at his Team, to see Sakura looking grimly at the Agreement sheet that was handed to her after Mitarashi had spoken of the disqualifications. The girl's face was apprehensive, a look he was becoming familiar with, and as if she felt his eyes on her, she looked up from the sheet and gave a very confident smile. Sasuke nodded to her, then turned his attention to his blond companion, and was completely surprised to see that he was in the process of signing the paper. There was no fuss, no hesitation, just him promptly doing what Sasuke desired. Sakura handed her signed paper over to him, and he took Naruto's as well, sighing inwardly when he saw what he had put on the dotted line. If the characters there were supposed to be Naruto's name, then it said the blond had the writing ability of a slug, which he knew he didn't. Naruto had excellent penmanship, but seeing this reminded the Uchiha why he always signed official forms for Naruto- Naruto simply wouldn't put his name down otherwise. It was apparent that somewhere in his messed up head he was trying to not leave a paper trail, or anything with his name on it. But Sasuke had made sure all their papers needed for missions and such had been signed by him, though all their Academy work he had allowed Naruto to leave blank when it came to names: Iruka-sensei knew what belonged to the blond.

Sasuke quickly signed Naruto's name over the little mess he had put there, glancing at the blond wryly and noticed that his head was up, and he was staring over at the Sand-nins. The red-head was staring back. Sasuke stepped on Naruto's foot, making the hooded blond jump and turn accusing eyes on him.

"Stop looking over at him," Sasuke ordered. "You start to act funny whenever you do, and we don't need that right now."

Naruto replied by simply staring at the ground, which was fine with him. As long as he wasn't about to get in a fight with the Suna ninja. Sasuke glanced over at the booth, noticing that there was now a black tarp hanging off the side, concealing the genin that entered with their Agreement forms. It also stopped them all from seeing who was getting which type of scroll. He gestured for the others to follow him as he moved to the line, waiting a few minutes until they stepped into the shadows of the booth and handed over their Agreement forms. The chuunin looked them over absently before handing him a thick scroll with the characters Heaven written across the seal. Sasuke placed it into his pack.

"Go ahead and wait at Gate Twelve," the chuunin said, eyes drifting past them to the other genin behind them. "It'll be about thirty minutes before the start of the second Exam. Make yourselves ready. Good luck."

They moved around the fence until they found a gate with their number on it, passing the creepy Grass-nins standing by Gate Fifteen. The long-tongued one lifted his head, black eyes peering at him from a pallid face. The wide mouth turned up in a smirk. Sasuke glared back until they were out of sight, his eyes falling on Naruto, who was giving him a rather flat look, very uncharacteristic of him.

"What?" he asked while they stopped at their gate. Sakura turned curious green eyes on them. She had been doing that lately, watching them interact- it made him feel like she was studying them for some reason. Naruto said nothing, instead staring at the dirt.

They waited.

Finally, after what he imagined was thirty minutes, a chunin wandered over with a hand full of keys and lazily opened the gate, whistling all the while. "Good luck," he said between a whistle as he shut the Gate behind them. Sasuke watched the chunin as he left before turning to his Teammates.

"Alright. Let's go."

Immediately they leaped into the trees, heading for the tower. As they moved, he spoke.

"First, let's cover as much distance as possible. I want to cut our time in half and get to the tower as soon as possible."

"What about the scrolls? Which one do we even have?" Sakura asked on his left.

"We have the Heaven Scroll. Don't worry about getting a scroll- everyone is going the same direction as we are. It would be near impossible not to run into any of them. We can set traps while we wait and gather food and water in the meantime." He glanced over at Naruto, who was moving along on his right, face unreadable in its misery. Just because his face looked that way, didn't mean that was how he felt. Naruto could very well be enraged at this moment. "Make several of those clones to find out where all the others are positioned." Naruto glanced at him then made the seals for the kage bunshin. "Give them a good amount of chakra," Sasuke added quickly. He didn't want them disappearing for stupid things, like tripping over a root and smacking into a tree. Naruto frowned, and Sasuke felt a surge of chakra before three clones appeared, two by the blonde's side, and one behind him. They immediately took off in different directions, the one behind him going back the way they had come, one on his left taking off that way, while the one on his right disappeared into the gloom of the forest on his right. This was done without them missing a beat, without them stopping, and they continued on for some time. It was near impossible to tell how much time had passed, for they couldn't see the sky at all under such a thick canopy. He wondered what Nabeshin was doing, and if he had decided to enter the forest. The ghost had claimed to know someone who would help him learn the deeper workings of the Sharingan, especially the Mangekyou Sharingan, and he couldn't wait.

He glanced over to Naruto, seeing that he had a pinched look about him and he decided to stop them for an hour and maybe boost the blond's sugar levels a bit.

"Let's rest here for a bit," he suggested, and they stopped on a branch, dropping to the earth. Sasuke dug into his pack, about to hand Naruto a candybar, but realized that Sakura was crouching a few feet from him, and no doubt Naruto would be upset if she saw Sasuke handing the candybar to him in full view of her. Sasuke resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he positioned his body so that his back was to Naruto and shielding him from view of Sakura, who was digging in her own pack. Sasuke covertly fished out a candybar and snuck it behind him, his eyes on the pink haired girl. The bar left his hand and he heard Naruto trying to open it quietly, but he was being unsuccessful about it, so with a sigh, Sasuke spoke up.

"We should make a password with one another in case we get separated. A henge is so basic that its often overlooked, and if we get separated, we don't want the enemy taking our place." Sakura nodded, looking up from her canteen of water.

"That's a good idea. What do you suggest?"

Sasuke frowned. Where were the days when she would gush and coo, telling him how smart he was? Not that he missed those days, but Sakura's one-eighty was starting to make him suspicious.

"How about...The question is, who are my friends, and the answer will be, Sasuke and Naruto, or Sakura and Naruto, or any of the combinations according to whomever is receiving the question."

Sakura frowned, giving him a funny look. "Isn't that a little...simple?"

Sasuke smirked. "There's no point in doing something long-winded. Besi-"

Sasuke was cut off when a sudden explosion shook the area, lifting him off of the ground and sending him crashing into the foliage and rolling to a crouch. Dirt and dust blew about the area, causing him to shield his eyes even as he slipped his katana from his back. His eyes darted about in the haze, senses fully alert as he heard someone coughing, and out of the smoke Sakura staggered, coughing into her hand, eyes watering from the dust and grit in the air.

"Sas-" she choked out, but he leveled his blade at her.

"Password," he snapped.

For a second she looked startled, and then she nodded. "Sasuke and Naruto." Sasuke lowered the blade, eyes darting toward Naruto, who came staggering into view, face scrunched up in misery.

"Password!" Sasuke demanded.

"Sasuke and Sakura," Naruto muttered, and Sasuke felt instant rage fly through him as he tossed a kunai at the hooded blond's head. The Naruto imposter dodged, backing away a step before grinning at them, a creepy look for Naruto's bony face.

"What gave me away?" he asked. "I was sure I got the image and password right."

"You may have gotten his image right, but you got his voice wrong," Sakura replied warily holding up her kunai. "But that isn't much of a surprise since Naruto isn't much of a talker."

"Ah," the imposter gave a rather healthy laugh, a wild look appearing in those pale blue eyes. "But what if I had gotten the voice correct? What then?"

Sasuke didn't care to be quizzed- he didn't even want to answer this bastards' question. The only thing on his mind at the moment was- if this was the imposter, which he or she was, where the hell was Naruto?

"You got the answer wrong," Sasuke snapped, missing Sakura's puzzled frown. "You see, if asked, Naruto would most likely just say that I was his friend. He would say nothing about Sakura." The color drained from the kunoichi's face, her lips thinning. "Where's Naruto?" he demanded.

The imposter grinned again and poofed. Once the smoke cleared, he revealed himself to be the long haired Grass- nin.

Shit!

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Naruto shook his head rapidly, blinking back the lights that danced around his eyes as he sat up. He got to his feet and clutched his stomach as the chocolate bar tried to make its way back up his throat- he should have known better than to scarf something down like that so quickly. But he hadn't wanted the girl to see him eating it and had been forced to make quick work of it as Sasuke distracted her.

The food settled just as a shadow appeared above him, and he looked up to see a rather large purple snake coiling above him, approximately fifteen to twenty feet tall. He stared at it blankly, thinking briefly that snakes didn't normally come at this size, and that it must have been summoned by someone with a contract, when it snapped forward at a shocking speed. Naruto dodged out of the way, the snake crashing face first into the dirt, but it curled toward him, so that he had to dodge forward, toward it and under one of its massive coils. He had seen two fangs, which meant that despite its size, it was poisonous. One bite would be his death, either by poison alone or the simple size of the fangs. He raked his katana against its scaled flesh, unsurprised that the blade only glided against the scales. He simply didn't have the physical strength to cut into such a creature.

A coil tried to smash him as he moved around a tree and back into the coils of the snake, using its mass to his advantage. The snake kept curling about, trying to reveal him under its length, but he kept moving with its every move, until it finally caught the glint of his katana and struck quickly. Naruto jerked himself against one of its coils, its head managing to crush him against it while he rammed his katana into its bright yellow eye. The snake made of blast of hissing, yanking its head and his katana away, shaking it, body writhing about the forest, crashing into trees and crushing brush. Naruto was forced to momentarily curl up into a ball, making himself as small as possible as the snake's long body flapped and curled around and over him.

He quickly got to his feet as the snake seemed to gather its bearings, fixing its undamaged left eye on him. Naruto ran from the creature, performing the kage bunshin and releasing fifteen clones about him. The snake's eye darted about- it hesitated, looking at the clones; he had managed to lose himself in them, running up the side of a tree as his clones turned as one and performing a fire jutsu. One had leaped towards its face, aiming for the remaining eye, but the snake snatched that one out the air, crushing it as the others blew fire on its coils. It writhed again, and the clones ran from it, several were crushed in the attempt while others went into the trees and tried the jutsu on the snake again, catching it on the nose instead.

Naruto pulled out a shuriken and spun it at the snake's eye, dropping down from the tree before the shuriken could arrive, moving to his clones as the snake jerked away from the shuriken. It hit the reptile below its eye, but just close enough that it obviously hurt, and the snake was shaking it's head in rage. Another clone leaped haphazardly onto its head, grabbing onto the katana still lodged in its right eye and pulling. The snake rolled over, crushing the clone, but his katana was now free, and a remaining clone dashed forward as the snake was righting itself and snatched the blade, tossing it to him. Naruto snatched the katana out of the air and rushed at the creature.

The snake saw him and dashed forward, mouth opening wide, showing the soft pink inside. Naruto leaped right into the gaping mouth, no doubt startling the creature just as he gathered his strength and chakra and shoved his blade up into the roof of the snake's mouth.

Then the snake's head was going everywhere, the world was a whirlwind of browns and greens as the snake twisted and turned about. There was something that felt like a crash- Naruto didn't know, he had his eyes shut, holding onto his katana because his life depended on it, and he was actually safer in the snakes jaws than he was if he made an attempt to leave. But all this whirling about was reeking havoc on his stomach.

Finally everything stopped, and Naruto opened an eye cautiously and spotted dirt. The snake's head was lying on the ground, and he gratefully stepped off of its pink tongue and yanked the bloody blade from its mouth, staggering from its jaws in disgust as he realized his sweater was covered in thick red blood and saliva. His stomach heaved, and he emptied its chocolatey contents out onto the dirt. He leaned against a tree, his back to the reptile as he willed his stomach to settle, trying to ignore the stench coming off of himself. He wanted to crawl out of his own skin, and resisted the urge to vomit again. They, hummed in the back of his head, pleased but not satisfied. He knew that They thought a snake summon was a dull kill. They wanted human blood, They wanted human screams.

MORE, They sang. ...

Naruto swallowed sourly and moved away from the tree, glancing at the dead snake and pondering its presence. He was surprised that there was genin in here somewhere that had a contract with a summon, but then, some of the genin had looked almost to be adults. Which genin had this reptile come from?

Naruto wiped his blade and sheathed it, averting his eyes from his arms and legs, which were coated in blood and slime. If he didn't look, he wouldn't feel sickened by it, wouldn't look for the nearest running water and bathe. If he breathed out of his mouth, he wouldn't smell it. He moved through the forest, leaving the giant reptile behind as he moved in the direction he imagined Sasuke and Sakura were. He wondered why they hadn't shown up to help him fight, and his only conclusion was that they were fighting as well.

He quickened his pace, but paused when he found his pack lying in some shrubs. He pulled it out, dusting small thin leaves and twigs from it, eagerly opening the flap and pulling out a small box of disinfectant wipes. He quickly pulled off the soiled black sweater and tossed it aside as he pulled out multiple wipes and began to clean his face, arms, and hair, taking careful strands of hair and wiping from scalp to tip. He cleaned beneath his fingernails, and used the rest on his pants legs, and was only satisfied when he couldn't smell the stench of the snake anymore.

He tossed the disinfectant wipes back into the small box and pulled out the spare grey sweater he had packed at the bottom of his pack, pulling it on quickly and pulling up the hood, smoothing it down over his forehead before pulling the pack onto his back. Sasuke had gotten a certain type of pack for both of them, one with loose straps so that it wouldn't hinder the drawing of their katana.

He was about to rush off toward his Teammates when he briefly remembered the black sweater, and he stopped to look back at the soiled thing. It was the one Kaori had given him, the one that Sasuke had made him wear. He continued to stare back at it for a moment, before simply moving on, leaving it where it lay, filthy and crumpled.

-----------

Sasuke didn't particularly like to admit when he was intimidated by something or someone, but he would have gladly gone up against anyone in this forest than this creepy Grass-nin. The girly-man was still grinning at them while he pulled out his scroll, the Earth Scroll, leering at them. "This is the one you desire right?" He lifted the scroll to his mouth, and Sasuke watched in disgust as that long tongue snaked out, wrapping around the scroll and pulling it into his mouth. He saw the Grass-nin's throat expand to accommodate the size of the scroll. Once it was successfully swallowed, the Grass-nin wiped his lips and looked at them.

"Now let's begin the fight for the scroll," the eyes sharpened. "With our lives."

A wave of pure killing intent roared over them, worse than he had ever felt, such terror and fear rolled over him, that he was sure that he was past dead, that there was a kunai buried in him somewhere. Sasuke staggered back, choking on his own fear, hearing someone empty their stomach, and vaguely wondering if it was him. The shocking terror faded a bit, and Sasuke was able to turn his eyes to Sakura, who was frozen on her knees, a puddle of vomit before her, eyes focused on the Grass-nin. In his hand he gripped his katana so tight that he could hear his joints cracking. Movemovemove! He shouted to himself, trying to will his body to stop shaking, to not run in terror like those villagers had when that Anbu had shown up. Yes, he was like those little villagers, weak and defenseless.

The Grass-nin was still grinning as he pulled out a kunai and tossed it at Sakura, who still hadn't moved. Dammit! They needed her! Sasuke turned his katana to the side of his leg, and the burning pain of the cut allowed his body to move. He grabbed Sakura and yanked her up into the canopy, using the thick leaves to mask his quick retreat. Sakura seemed to have gathered her bearings enough to follow him, and they both stopped a distance away, hiding behind the trunk of a tree.

"What is that-" Sakura began, sounding slightly hysterical.

"Shut up!" Sasuke hissed, cutting her off, eyes darted around the trunk in search for the Grass-nin. He hadn't wanted to run, running was for cowards, but this guy...something wasn't right about him. And where was Naruto? Sasuke swallowed, pushing away the multiple scenarios that flashed through his brain, all of them ending with Naruto being quite dead.

"Sasuke watch out!" Sakura cried behind him, and he spun around to see a rather large snake moving toward them. He shoved Sakura away, jumping from the tree, pulling out several kunai as the snake opened its massive jaws, revealing fangs longer that he was tall. Transferring chakra through his arms and into the kunai, he tossed them at the snake, feeling brief satisfaction as the blades entered and exited the reptile from mouth to skull.

The snake fell back against a tree, dead. Sasuke wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, turned to look around for the Grass-nin, but from the corner of his eye he caught movement from the snake, and turned back to see the scales below its head split open, an arm appearing, and then a head. The Grass-nin pulled himself from the body, long tongue hanging from his mouth as he looked at them.

"Did you relax? Prey shouldn't relax in the presence of a predator."

Sasuke gripped his katana, pursing his lips. There was no running from this guy- he was bent on killing them- Sasuke could tell. This wasn't about the scrolls, and for some reason, he felt that it was less likely to even have something to do with the Exam. This guy simply wanted to kill them. And if Sasuke was to die here, he wasn't going to be running. He was no coward.

The Grass-nin moved at them, winding his way up the tree they were on like a snake- in fact, his lower half was snake-like. Sasuke jumped down toward him, ignoring Sakura's cry of shock. Before he could even reach the Grass-nin, Naruto appeared, clutching onto the back of the man, startling them all, and raised his katana in an attempt to bury it in the Grass-nin's back. The snake man twisted his head around, thick tongue coming out and grabbing Naruto's wrist, stopping him from burying the katana in his back.

Sasuke continued forward, swiping his katana at the Grass-nin's head. The Grass-nin kicked himself from the tree, avoiding Sasuke's blade and crashing into a tree, crushing Naruto against the tree. Sasuke opened his mouth to cry out Naruto's name, but stopped when Naruto appeared by his side, looking glum, and in a grey sweater as opposed to the black one he had last seen him in. The other had been a clone.

"I see you survived my giant snake, little boy," the Grass-nin cooed, cold eyes dancing.

"Aren't you going to ask him the password?" Sakura asked, staring suspiciously at the hooded blond. Sasuke ignored her; he didn't have to ask. A simple glance at his blond companion, and he could see that he had that focused look about him, the one he had seen back in Wave, and when he was staring down the Sand-nin.

"You distract," Sasuke murmured. "Try and get me a good shot. I doubt this guy wants our scroll, so don't even worry about it. He's too powerful and we need to get away from him."

Naruto never took his eyes away from the Grass-nin, didn't bother nodding as the Grass- nin pulled up his purple sleeve, revealing a tattoo marking. He bit his thumb and ran it along the tattoo, and instantly there was a poof, a rush of wind that made them momentarily shut their eyes. When they opened them again, the Grass-nin stood on the head of an even bigger snake than the one he had just killed.

"Oh," he heard Sakura breath in shock. Naruto's face was morphing into that expressionless gaze he often got as he made the seals for a kage bunshin. This time however, he felt the hooded blond gather up a rather large amount of chakra, there was a delay before three clones appeared. These ones would be tough, they would be able to take a few hits. But he saw some of the color drain from Naruto's already pallid face. Was he already reaching his limit? The Grass-nin had mentioned that Naruto had defeated another snake- had the fight been too tough?

"Go for the eyes," Naruto muttered as he and the three clones leaped at the snake. There had been no fear in his eyes, none of the usual dramatics that he dealt with at home and on a daily basis.

Sasuke grinned. This was how it was supposed to be.

"What do you want me to do?" Sakura asked, grabbing onto him as he was about to leap forward. Sasuke glared back at her, shrugging her hand off of his shoulder.

"Do what you want, just don't get in our way." He leaped at Grass-nin, swinging the blade quickly at his chest but was blown back by a gust of wind that the ninja blew from his mouth, sending him a distance away and clutching onto a tree. Below he caught a glimpse of Sakura, placing exploding tags on parts of the snake while the Naruto clones kept both Grass-nin and snake preoccupied, unaware of her.

Sasuke leaped back into the fray, his blade shining briefly in the occasional pockets of sun- the Grass-nin held them all back with only two kunai. Indeed, he was like that Anbu. The Grass-nin kicked a clone away- how he knew was by the fact that it dissipated, taking one too many hits from the deadly ninja, leaving them with only two clones and Naruto.

Several explosions erupted down below, flesh flew in all directions, causing the snake to reel, and Sasuke lost his balance. He and two of the bunshins were hit by a massive coil, and he saw stars as he fell to the ground, losing his grip on his katana. Sakura crashed into him, pulling him away from his impending collision with the earth and landing them both on a low branch.

He got quickly to his feet, staggering, numb in the torso, but his eyes were on the Grass-nin, who had captured Naruto by the throat. The snake was weaving weakly, and he glanced down quickly as he leaped forward to Naruto's rescue, seeing the gouged flesh of the reptile that Sakura had managed with her well placed tags littered about the forest floor.

"Goukyakuu no jutsu," he put his hands together, blowing the fire ball directly into the snake's unsuspecting eye. The reptile seemed to scream silently, shaking its head and tossed both the Grass-nin and Naruto off of its head- the Grass-nin had been in the process of pulling up Naruto's sweater and shirt, revealing his stomach. Whatever he had been about to do had been foiled, though he didn't release his grip on Naruto's neck as he landed on a tree. He held his Teammate up in the air, black eyes focused on Sasuke's face.

"Is this you friend, Sasuke-kun?" the Grass-nin asked. Naruto kicked him in the face once, then wrapped his legs around the Grass-nin's arm, his fingers clawing desperately at the arm holding him aloft.

"Let him go!" Sasuke shouted, rushing at the man. The Grass-nin stabbed a kunai into the Naruto's upper thigh, then dragged it down to his knee, Naruto making a pitiful whine and releasing the Grass-nin's arm. Blood poured from the gaping wound, making Sasuke pale and stop. The Grass-nin then buried the kunai into Naruto's stomach.

"Stop!" He howled, feeling his Sharingan activate. Why was it that Naruto seemed to always come out the worst in every battle? Was he born a victim? Pure rage blew through the Uchiha as he charged the man. The Grass-nin tossed Naruto away and moved to his right, like Sasuke knew he would. Sasuke could see him move before he actually did.

He spun a shuriken at the Grass-nin, watched as he dodged it, then spinning around a tree, came to the other side and tossed a kunai at the ninja, grinning as the man moved to the left, falling into his trap. Both shuriken and kunai were tied to two thin wires, and he yanked the shuriken back like a yo-yo. The Grass-nin spun around and grabbed the weapon that had come up behind him with his mouth, eyes widening when Sasuke began the seals, the wire in his own mouth.

"Gouryuuka no Jutsu!" he blew fire along the wire and directly into the Grass-nin's surprised face. The ninja staggered back a few feet, then brushed the fire away from his face, revealing strangely peeled skin. Sasuke felt his stomach drop- he was low on chakra, and Naruto was badly injured. His eyes darted quickly around, looking for his blond companion, but he was nowhere in sight.

"You handle the Sharingan well for one so young. You truly hold the blood of the great Uchiha Clan." The Grass-nin lifted his hand hand ran it along his hitai-ate, revealing not the three strands of grass, but a musical note. He was from Sound? Why was a Sound- nin pretending to be a Grass- nin?

"Who are you?" Sasuke demanded. "What do you want?" He tried to move, but was startled to find that his body wouldn't move.

"I want you, Sasuke-kun," The man stared at them as he revealed their Heaven Scroll from behind his back, and it was in the process of burning. "My name is Orochimaru, and if you would like to meet again, survive this Exam."

"Why the hell would we want to see you again?!" Sakura asked incredulously.

The Sound-nin smiled, putting his hands together- Sasuke tensed, knowing that he was going to do a jutsu, and that they were both unable to move. To his horror, the man's neck suddenly stretched, elongating and moving toward them, his mouth open wide, two fangs gleaming at him while the body remained where it was. The Sound-nin sank his teeth into his neck, then jerked back to where his body was, all in the time it took Sakura to squeal in horror. Pain roared through Sasuke's body as he covered the area bitten with a shaking hand as he stared at the Sound-nin, who was in the process of sinking down into the tree.

"If you want power, you'll come see me," Orochimaru said with a smile as Sasuke felt his legs buckle and Sakura grab him. It felt like there was acid running through his veins- not like he knew what that felt like, but this must be close. He gasped in pain as his vision shot to ribbons, and it felt like all the muscles in his body were in the process of seizing.

He tried to grab Sakura as she lay him down on the branch. "Where's Naruto?" he gasped, his vision disappearing. "Where is he?" He thought he may have grabbed onto her hair- it sure felt like hair, and he had a good grip on it as more pain roared through him. He heard her cry out as he yanked her toward him.

"Sasuke-kun! You're hurting me!" he heard her cry, and he had the urge to rip her hair out of her head. Why was she hurting? Was she even injured? Was there acid running through her veins? The useless bitch probably had a few scratches on her while Naruto was probably lying not too far, bleeding to death, because apparently he saved a pair of big hairy balls for when they had to fight someone clearly tougher than they were.

"Find him," Sasuke growled, but did not hear her reply as he drifted away into unconsciousness.

---------------

Sakura eased her hair out of Sasuke's grasp, wiping sweat from her face as she stared at him. He was very pale, and his breath was ragged. She had to get him out of here, away from this battle scene. It had been noisy, others may be on their way, attracted to the sounds of a big battle. She gathered Sasuke in her arms, pausing to glance around the area.

Naruto was nowhere in sight. She had seen the Orochimaru person throw him, but he couldn't have thrown him far. Had he run off to nurse his wounds? Find him! She flinched, Sasuke's crazed command ringing in her head. She had to get Sasuke out of here. Naruto, despite his appearances, was tough- tougher than she had thought. Braver than she had thought. He hadn't seemed as scared of Orochimaru as she and Sasuke had. She tightened her grip on her Teammate and carefully descended down the side of a tree, making it to the earth and carefully making steps, not wanting to slip on snake guts.

Sasuke was burning up, his body shaking. She glanced back around the area, hoping to catch a simple glimpse of the blond, but the only thing her eye fell on was Sasuke's pack. She quickly set him down and put the pack on her back before coming back to him. Picking him up, she went in search for a good hiding place. They were as good as finished. Not only did they not have an Earth scroll, but they now, thanks to Orochimaru, didn't have a Heaven Scroll either. Naruto was probably too injured somewhere to continue on with the Exam, and Sasuke was now most likely dying from poison.

Great. They would be lucky if they got out of this alive. She paused to glance back the way she came one last time. No Naruto.

Ah...He could take care of himself.

He had imagined that getting past that fence and into the Forest of Death would be an ordeal, that he would have to distract the chunin somehow to sneak his way in. So it was with sheer disdain that Nabeshin was able to hop over the fence unhindered by anyone, since the area was completely empty of the watchful eyes of chunin. Perhaps if it were years ago, when he was alive, he would have lamented over the security of his village, but it wasn't his village anymore. He gazed back at the fence, face twisted in annoyance. He shouldn't be mad, but he was.

Nabeshin turned and leaped into the trees, grinning as he landed carefully on a branch, enjoying the sensation of weight and substance. Twice earlier he had walked into a wall, expecting to go through it, and being relieved that there was enough chakra in this form that he wasn't bothered by the collision. But now he was flesh and blood again- or something near it. The feel of a real katana in his hand was almost orgasmic. Alive, he had spent much of his time learning the art of the sword, his desire for kenjutsu had made him a bit of an oddity in the Uchiha community. While the others spent all their time collecting jutsu or perfecting their Sharingans, he had devoted most of his time learning the art of the sword, putting himself through his paces while the others harped on about chakra levels and control. Of course, he had paid much attention to the workings of the Sharingan, it was a huge advantage in a battle when you were able to see your opponents movements before he or a she made them, but he had been less interested in the genjutsu of it. Nabeshin was a man of the flesh- he preferred the feeling of his blade moving through someone's body than making them believe that it had happened through illusion. While the others stressed about achieving the mangekyou, he had perfected his art. They had thought him stupid- they had told him he could achieve mangekyou if he had really wanted to.

But he hadn't, because he had been a man of the flesh, he had been loyal to his family, so while some had chopped down lovers, and mothers, and fathers, sisters and brothers, in an attempt to achieve the power, he had declined. He had been happy with any jutsu he had collected on missions, happy with his growing skills with the katana, and he had loved Momori and the unexpected, unborn child that would have joined them in the world. The only thing he had been unhappy about, was the treatment the Uchiha had suffered over the years.

When he had decided to enter the forest after Team Seven, he had gone back to the Uchiha compound to collect his katana, which was back at the infirmary. Going into the place where his world had ended had been stressful, picking up his katana where it lay beside the stain of his body had made him feel sick; he had not dared to look where Momori had fallen. But holding his katana again had almost sent him to tears- such sheer elation at the familiar feel and weight of what had belonged to him since he had been six. His body had actually shook, eyes clouding with tears. It was like he was alive again, though he knew he shouldn't delude himself- he was really wearing a chakra suit, chakra that wasn't even his, but he could almost swear that there was blood running through his veins. Naruto made one heck of a bunshin.

He moved through the trees quickly and stealthily, feeling little bits of chakra burn away, an unsettling feeling; he had to be careful of not running out, or he would lose the body. After three hours he paused on a branch, shutting his eyes and listening to his surroundings. There was a brush of leaves, the wind moving through the thick trees. Otherwise, the forest was unnaturally silent.

The snap of a twig.

Nabeshin smiled, flinging a kunai into the thick foliage, hearing someone curse in response. He watched as a genin leaped from the bushes and into the trees, the kunai stuck in his shoulder. The brown skinned, green eyed kid pulled the kunai from his shoulder, and Nabeshin saw that no blood rose from the wound. To his left, below him, the dirt began to turn to mud around the tree, loosening the thick roots and making the tree tip over. Nabeshin left the tree in disgust and dropped into another one, eyes falling on the hitai-ate of the boy. Iwa-nin, and judging by the fact that his kunai hadn't drawn blood, was using a doton jutsu to harden his body. He hated Iwa-nin with a passion, mostly because of the war he had participated in when he was in his late teens, and the animosity he felt for them had not faded, never since he had lost a brother to one of those dirt pushers.

He felt his face stiffen with a cold smile "Which scroll do you have?" he asked as a second and third genin appeared. One looked similar to the first, dark-skinned and green eyed, while the other was lighter in skin color with darker eyes. He was going to assume that the first two were closely related, most likely brothers. All three looked about fourteen, wearing greens and browns, a usual color for Iwa-nin.

"Like we'd tell you!" the light skinned one sneered, looking quite confident.

No matter. He did not care which one they had- he was aiming for both Earth and Heaven scrolls. He didn't know which one Team Seven had been given, not being present, but in case theirs had been taken, he would be ready to hand both to Sasuke.

Nabeshin examined them carefully, looking for the strategist in the group, picking him out by the way his green eyes would occasionally dart about, taking in the area, no doubt running scenarios and tactics through his head. The other two were melee fighters then, prone to acts of recklessness without much thought or planning. Every Team had one or two of them, and they would be easy to get rid of once their tactician was removed.

"Give me your scrolls and I'll let you Iwa scum live," he threatened.

The dark eyed one gave him the finger, while the tactician frowned. "Where's your Leaf buddies? Confident enough to take all of us?"

"Yeah," the dark eyed one guffawed. "You barely look like a ninja! Maybe you should have stayed home and seen a dentist, maybe clean out your foul mouth!"

Nabeshin frowned, puzzled at what a dentist had to do with anything, then realized the Iwa-scum was probably referring to the strange puffs of reddish smoke that was constantly coming from his mouth since he had taken a clone body. He didn't know why it was coming from his mouth- this hadn't happened outside of the clone, but it seemed harmless. He imagined he looked very harmless since he was still in his henge, looking like a simple dark brown haired kid with heavy lidded eyes, giving him a slightly sleepy look, and completely forgettable features. Yes, the only thing that probably looked even mildly intimidating was his katana.

"Well, we'll see, won't we?" Before they could reply he made the seals for the Goukyakuu jutsu, bringing his fingers to his lips and blowing it at the team- they all leaped out of the way, heading for the forest floor. Not unexpected- they were Iwa-nin after all, playing in the dirt was what they did. Nabeshin stopped the tactician from getting to the ground, swinging the katana at his head, enjoying the whistle of his blade cutting through the air. The kid managed to dodge it, just barely, Nabeshin sliced off a sizable portion of his hair as he swung his fist at him. Nabeshin dodged the fist, directing it past him and planting a knee in the kids stomach, immediately feeling the hardness of the kid's flesh and completed the move with a slice, feeling the resistance in his blade. Yep, the boy had a very good doton defense on him- the dirt covering his body would deflect most physical attacks and also allow the boy to hit harder.

"Doton: Doryuusou no jutsu!" Someone shouted below, and he moved out of the way as spears of stone rose from the ground and shot up at them. The tactician slammed his fist into one of the projectiles, shattering it upon impact.

"Watch it!" the tactician barked at the dark-eyed boy, who grinned sheepishly in return. Nabeshin landed on a tree, feeling a bit of a drain in his body; he was still vulnerable to hits, but though he had yet to be hit, the impact of his knee against the hardened genin had made him lose some chakra. He wondered how many jutsu he would be able to do before the clone would lose form. He needed to get those scrolls.

"Kage bunshin no jutsu," he muttered, creating two clones, weak ones, but he felt a large amount of chakra go. "Dammit," he muttered. He needed an even stronger clone than the one he had been given. The clones dropped down to the ground, attacking the Iwa-nins on the ground while he turned his attention to the tactician. The kid no doubt thought he had a perfect defense with the dirt covering him, but the Uchiha had spent time enough fighting Iwa-nin back when the Fourth was alive and not yet Hokage, and he had come across plenty who had covered their bodies in dirt. A simple raiton was all he needed, and unfortunately for the tactician, he knew a simple D-rank one that shouldn't drain him completely.

He attacked the boy again, aware of the skirmish down below and that he had already lost a clone to a Doryuu Heki, being spewed with dirt from the mouth of the tactician's sibling. He was a bit surprised that the kid used that technique, it was B-rank, but then, these were supposed to be the best genin that Iwagakure had to offer. It was a good thing he was going to kill them.

The tactician managed to make it to the ground, taking advantage of his momentary distraction, and he followed after him, katana above his head in both hands as he dropped down.

"Doton: Doro Gaeshi no jutsu!" the tactician shouted, striking the ground with his hands and erecting a ten foot wall of solid mud in front of him. Nabeshin cut down, using gravity and a burst of chakra to cut down the wall. The moment his feet touched the ground, he let go of his katana, freeing his hands as the tactician tried to leap back.

"Raiton: Sandaa Saaburu!" Lightning formed in his hand, and he quickly planted it against the tactician's chest. The boy cried out, electricity running through his body, making him stagger back, stumbling into a tree. Nabeshin leapt forward, grabbing one shoulder and yanking the boy up into the trees, using more chakra to propel both him and the boy high up, feeling the added weight of the Iwa-nin.

The remaining clone jumped into the trees, joining him with his katana in its hand while he slipped behind the incapacitated tactician and placed a kunai against his neck. The skin split, and he was pleased to see a line of blood appear. Both genin below froze.

"Give me your scroll," he commanded, "Or I'll kill this one."

"No w-" the dark eyed one began, but the other green-eyed one cut him off.

"Shut up Tetsuo and give him the damned scroll!" His face was turning red.

"No!" Tetsuo snapped, apparently the one in possession of the scroll. "We'll fail this Exam if we do."

Nabeshin clucked, shaking his head. "Priorities boy. If your tactician is dead, you'll not only fail in this Exam, but you'll go home to your filthy country one member short." He glanced at the trembling brother, whose face was going pale with fear and outrage. "Plus you'll have to deal with his surviving brother. Just give me the scroll and you can live another day for another Exam."

Tetsuo growled, glancing at the other boy, who was staring at him like he couldn't believe they were even having this conversation. He pulled out the scroll from a leg holster and tossed it up to him. The clone snatched it out of the air and slipped away silently into the foliage.

"Release Shohei," the green-eyed one said from the ground. "You have the scroll, we don't want to fight you anymore. You win, we lose."

Nabeshin nodded. "Yes, that is correct. I'll release him like I said." He dragged the blade across Shohei's jugular, feeling warm blood spurt over his hand as he released the boy and allowed him to fall to the earth. The brother rushed to him, face in a silent scream, catching his brother before he hit the ground. Tetsuo looked stunned, frozen; he had probably thought in his young foolish mind that they would get out of this somehow and come out the victors. So stunned was he that he didn't notice the bunshin slip out of the foliage behind him, katana raised and whistling as it struck his head from his body. Tetsuo's head rolled to the ground soundlessly as Nabeshin dropped down behind the grieving brother. The bunshin tossed the katana to him, the blade flashing in the brief pockets of light that made it through the canopy as he caught it with his bloody hand and walked up to the brother.

The kid lifted his head, face streaked with tears as he looked up at him, eyes hollowed out in grief. "You said..."

"Yes well," Nabeshin said, raising his katana, "Sometimes the war never ends for some of us."

For a second the boy looked confused, but then his green eyes drifted to his hitai-ate, and understanding filled his eyes, along with hate. "You bast-"

Nabeshin sliced his head in half at an angle, from his ear to the rim of his jaw, and watched in admiration as the top half slid wetly down, revealing pieces of his brain as his body fell over Shohei's.

His bunshin walked over and handed him the scroll, it was the Heaven scroll, then it dissipated, having done its job.

Nabeshin smiled at his work, pleased, but as he took a step away, felt his henge drop. He stopped, grimacing as he felt how low he was. Maybe two hits and he would lose this body. He couldn't allow that, which also meant that he would be unable to do any jutsu. He needed a stronger bunshin.

---------

Nabeshin thanked the gods of luck later, when coming upon a group of Mist-nin who were in process of trying to kill each other. They should have joined forces and taken out other groups, but as Nabeshin crouched in the bushes, it became clear that they were rivals clans of that village, and the animosity between them lay unhindered in a foreign land. It was while he was wondering what types of scrolls they may have, that he noticed a dead genin with a pack still attached to her back laying not too far from him. He had snuck over to her, dug into her pack and to his utter delight, discovered an Earth Scroll nestled at the bottom. So he had taken that and slipped away, marveling at his luck, but knowing that if he came across an enemy, he would not only lose his body, but the two scrolls as well.

As he slipped through the forest, he felt his henge disappear, knowing that he now looked like the creator of his body. He promised himself he wouldn't look in a puddle. Hours passed, night fell, the chakra moved throughout his body calmly, and he remained safe. Morning came, and he still had his body, though it was weak; he didn't dare trip on anything. If he fell, he was finished.

It was mid-afternoon when he heard a strange noise, something between a moan and growl. It raised the small hairs at the nape of his neck and made him freeze where he stood. It was coming ahead of him to his left, the noise, with a slight rustling, like something dragging itself in the foliage.

Whatever it was he didn't want to come across it, but on the other hand, he wanted to know- had to know, actually. Carefully he stepped closer to the rustling, stepping around brittle twigs and some dead leaves, peering beyond the bushes to see what it was.

Two beacons of red light turned to him. Nabeshin shut his eyes quickly, turning his head away, then peered back at Naruto at the corner of his eyes. He was lying on the ground, arms wrapped around his stomach, right leg split open from thigh to knee. There was dried crusted blood around his nose and mouth, and Nabeshin got the feeling that he had been laying there for quite some time.

His face was the usual, hollow, pale, but with the two large holes where his eyes were supposed to be, filled with that red light. He couldn't look into those eyes- it felt like he would be devoured, eaten. He could feel them on him, focused, running over his body, no doubt seeing past the bunshin and into him.

"Come here," he commanded, and Nabeshin flinched. He bit his lip, darting frightened eyes at the boy, seeing that those focused lights were on him. "Come here," that multi-toned voice commanded, and he heard impatience thread through it.

Nabeshin swallowed and stepped through the bushes, coming as close as he dared, two feet from the injured body. The beacons stared up at him for a moment, then the right arm unwrapped itself from his midsection and reached out for him.

Nabeshin did not want to touch Naruto; he had never done it before when he had trained him, because he knew that though he was dead, Naruto was able to touch him, harm him. Though Naruto had yet to actually do so himself, he knew that if Naruto wanted, he would bring Nabeshin to true death, and he didn't want that. There were things he had to do while he still existed.

But he lifted an identical hand and placed it in Naruto's bloody, outstretched one. He felt the chakra being pulled from him back into the body of the boy, sucking away, until it dissipated around him, and he was without body anymore, Naruto's beacon eyes flashing repeatedly. But Naruto had his now much larger hand still in his small grip.

"Let go!" he gasped, feeling pure terror, something he hadn't felt in a long time. "Let go of me!" he cried, trying to yank his hand from the boy's grip. If he could remove that hand, he would gladly chop it off. The beacons still stared at him. "Please," he pleaded.

He was released. Nabeshin staggered back, taking in a deep, useless breath as Naruto turned on his stomach, giving a small groan. One hand moved over his belly, and he saw that the boy had recently been stabbed, through the remaining chakra he had taken back from the bunshin had closed it up, through it was caked with blood.

Naruto turned over and lifted himself slowly to his feet, favoring the torn leg, which looked like he had only managed to stop the bleeding.

"What happened?" he asked. Naruto began to limp forward, ignoring his question. "Wait!" The boy turned his beacon eyes on him. Nabeshin pointed to the two scrolls lying on the ground. "I got these for you guys in case you failed to get some." Naruto limped slowly over to the scrolls, one hand still holding his stomach as he bent over slowly, making an unhealthy gurgle in his throat, blood seeping past his lips as he picked up the scrolls and pressed them against his belly. "You should probably take my katana too. Use it as a crutch for that leg."

Naruto turned and picked that up as well, using it as a walking stick as he slowly moved through the forest, pulling his hood up over his uneven hair, a pitiful sight, limping in a grey stained sweater, face turned down in silent misery, except for the gurgles and rasps that were coming from him. Nabeshin followed along silently, unwilling to ask for a bunshin, knowing he wouldn't get one anyway- if Naruto couldn't completely heal his stomach, and hadn't even bothered on the leg, then he obviously had no chakra to spare.

----------------

He was back home, standing in the hallway in front of his dad's workroom. He didn't know how he had gotten there- he didn't usually come unless Naruto was at his side, but looking to his left and right, he didn't see the hooded blond anywhere. But when his eyes fell on the room again, he choked back a cry of horror, seeing his parents lying there, a kunai buried in his mother's chest. His father was face down on the wooden floor, the smell of their blood thick in the air.

If only he had the strength to stop this from happening... Sasuke backed away from the room, mind warring with rage, terror, and despair. Why was he seeing this again? He had thought he was over the nightmares, over the horrors of the memory. But it was back, fresh, a newly reopened wound, with a new brand of knowledge, that this wasn't only the betrayal of his brother, but the whole damned village. He was living in a cesspool of betrayers.

When he woke, he was filled with a feeling of utter completeness, such surety that he leaped to his feet, eyes darting around and taking in everything at once. He was not where he had remembered, standing in the hollow of a tree. About him in the clearing were several familiar faces. Sakura was half lying on the ground, her arms holding her upright, her face was a swollen mess, hair chopped up and uneven, arms scraped and bloody. Near her lay that Leaf genin dressed in all green with the bowl cut- his eyes were open but he looked incapable of fighting. Nara Shikamaru was holding an unconscious Ino, while Chouji stood near them. In a tree overlooking the scene was a Hyuuga, below him was the girl that he had seen with the kid in the green leotard.

Besides the potential allies, there were the three Sound-nin from earlier, the ones that had attacked Kabuto before the first Exam had started. He hadn't liked them on simple principal, and with all the chakra running wildly through him, they looked like perfectly acceptable targets.

"Sasuke," Sakura gasped. "Your body!"

Sasuke looked down at his arms, vaguely startled to see the fiery marks riddled along them. But damn, he felt great, like he could take on any ninja that came his way. "Don't worry about it Sakura, I feel great. He gave this power to me," this Orochimaru person. He needed more of this, so much more. But first, he was going to kill these Sound-nin.

"Ino we're leaving!" Shikamaru called, starting to run towards the bushes, holding said girl in his arms. "Chouji, let's go!"

As Akimichi rushed after Shikamaru, the Sound-nin girl made the seal for releasing a jutsu and dropped to the dirt with a groan.

Sasuke ignored them, his eyes trained on the Sound-nin. The one with the bandages took a step back as he moved forward, while the kid with the black spiky hair attacked, using a jutsu that blew dirt at him, or so it seemed, because he moved out of the way and appeared at the Sound-nin's side, hitting him forcefully, knocking the boy several feet away. As he steadied himself near his Team mate, Sasuke gathered some of the seemingly limitless chakra rushing through him.

"Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!" He blew several fireballs at the Sound-nin, tossing kunai into them. The kid, Zaku was his name, lifted his hands, blasting them with his attack, then cried out when the kunai were revealed, lifting his arms to protect himself from the onslaught.

Sasuke grinned wildly, appearing behind him and grabbing his outstretched arms, pulling them back behind him. He stepped on the kids back and pressed down, pushing his body forward and his arms up and back. The sound of the bones snapping was like music to his ears, the sound of Zaku's pained scream was like the climax to a symphony of musical pain. He laughed, releasing the arms and turning to the one with his face wrapped.

"You're next," he promised, eyes passing over everyone there. "Why don't you come over and let me play with you?" He saw the Sound-nin step back, but his attention was wandering, because his eyes had taken in everyone again, and he just noticed that someone wasn't there.

"Stop!" Sakura cried, wrapping her arms around him from behind, but he shoved her away his malicious joy quickly turning to fury.

"Where is Naruto," he asked her calmly, and she stared at him, tearful eyes wide. "Where the fuck is Naruto?!" He screamed, grabbing her by the throat. "I told you to find him. Where is he?"

"I- I couldn't find him, " she gasped, tears running down her face. Disgust ran through him, and he tossed her away, turning away as Ino jumped from the bushes, face red with fury, Shikamaru following behind her, face resigned and wary.

"What's your problem?!" she shrieked. "Sakura's your Teammate!"

Sasuke made a move toward her, but he couldn't- he was frozen, his legs unwilling to move. He looked down, and noticed that something dark was connected to his shadow, and he turned his fury on the shadow user standing just behind the blond bitch.

"You really need to calm down," Shikamaru suggested, dark eyes steady on his. "You're having a hard time differentiating friend from foe."

Sasuke opened his mouth to reply, but the Hyuuga boy dropped down from the tree, pale eyes staring back into the foliage curiously. There was a rustling, and out of the gloom limped a very familiar hooded blond, head down as he moved slowly through the bushes.

The fury left him upon the sight of his blond companion, covered in his own blood, wounded and using his katana as a third leg. He felt Shikamaru release him, and he moved toward Naruto, taking in the huge gash that was nearly to the bone, his other hand holding a bulge under his bloodied sweater. Was it his innards? Was he barely holding them in? Naruto limped slowly up to him and stood there, staring at the dirt, strands of hair covering his face.

The amazing power he had felt faded, his body ached with the strain of his earlier fight. Sakura got to her feet, wiping her swollen face quickly.

"Naruto!" She looked relieved. Of course she would- if Naruto had died, Sasuke was sure he would kill her too. He recalled telling her to look for him, but he got the feeling she hadn't even tried- and if she had, he didn't care. Naruto hadn't been there. "You're alive! Thank goodness."

"Let's go," he gestured for them to follow him as he began to move toward the direction of the Tower.

"Hey!" It was Ino again. "Can't you see he's badly injured?! How can you expect him to continue on?"

Sasuke turned deadened eyes to her, her eyes widened and she took a step back. "Stay out of my business." He turned those eyes on Sakura. "Let's. Go." He continued on, Naruto limping after them, Sakura quickly thanking the others for coming to her rescue. Not a big surprise- Sakura couldn't do shit on her own. His eyes turned to look slightly behind him, where Naruto limped on, bloody face pallid, eyes mostly unfocused. He was in bad shape. Sasuke angled them towards the direction of the river. It would be good to get water down Naruto's throat, and then he could inspect the damage. His eyes darted to Naruto's stomach where he held the large lumps, dreading what he would see, but admiring the silent endurance of the hooded blond. Just when he thought he was weak and pitiful, Naruto proved him wrong, in major ways.

It was hours before they reached the water, hearing it long before they reached it, and by then he had a grip on Naruto's arm, pulling him along. He had dropped the katana and hour ago, other hand still clutching his stomach, and Sakura had picked it up. Though his leg wasn't bleeding, the risk of permanent damage and infection was high, and he was eager to set the blond down and wrap up the mess of it. But he was worried about his stomach. Twice Naruto had broken into a fit of wet coughing, and he was worried that there was internal bleeding.

At the river's edge, Sakura dropped his pack down and turned grim eyes on them as he allowed Naruto to lower himself into the sand.

"Alright, let me see it," Sasuke couched as Naruto lay back slowly on the ground, blue eyes unfocused. Sasuke swallowed, gripping his sweater with a shaky hand, steadying himself for the sight he was about to see, so it was to his utter shock that when he pulled it up, two scrolls fell out, rolling onto the sand. Sasuke stared at the scrolls in silent disbelief before he snatched them up, unable to say a word as he stared at the the characters Heaven and Earth on each.

"How'd he get those?!" Sakura asked, eyes wide. He looked at his blond companion, whose eyes were closed and face etched in pained misery. His eyes darted to his bloody exposed stomach,and gave an audible sigh of relief when he saw the closed wound.

"Go find some food," he told the kunoichi, turning angry eyes on her. "You can do that, right?"

Sakura's face turned red, and she nodded silently, turning away and disappearing into the surrounding trees.

Sasuke dug into the pack and pulled out bandages, antiseptic, and a small box of disinfectant wipes, which he didn't recall putting there. He carefully pulled the bloody sweater from the blond, resisting the urge to simply tear it away, knowing that later, when Naruto was better, he would freak out if he was so exposed.

He carefully cleaned up his Teammate, carefully bandaged the leg, though Naruto made that difficult whenever he jerked his leg away from him. Sasuke had been forced to create a kage bunshin to hold the blond's leg down while he wrapped it, ignoring the pained whimpers passing Naruto's pale lips.

"Where did you get these scrolls?" Sasuke asked once he had not only cleaned Naruto up, but washed and dried his sweater and put it back on.

Naruto opened an eye, a sliver of blue peering out at him behind pale eyelashes. "Nabeshin."

Sasuke rocked back on his heels, looking into the river. His cousin, however distant he was, was becoming more useful and vital than he could have ever imagined.

"We'll have to get him a stronger bunshin when your reserves are back," he said to the blond, and Naruto made no reply to this. Sasuke dug into the pack and pulled out a very small pouch, pulling out three sedatives. "Take these," he pressed them against Naruto's lips. The blond opened his eyes fully, staring at him. "It's the sedatives, like last time." Naruto opened his mouth, to his surprise, and he placed them in, pouring some water from the canteen down his throat so that he could wash it down. He would have tried to make him eat, but that was wishful thinking- Naruto didn't like to eat when he wasn't hurt, so it was unlikely that he would want to do it now.

By the time Sakura returned with food, Naruto had drifted away into a drug induced sleep, the kind without dreams.

"How much time do we have left?" he asked the girl. She looked up at him from the small fire she was in the process of making, so that she could cook the fish she had caught.

"We've got three days left," she replied in a subdued manner.

Sasuke glanced at Naruto- he would be out for the rest of today, and most likely tomorrow, which was fine. He would be well enough that they would be able to haul ass all the way to the Tower with time to spare. He settled in for a night of a wait.

---------

As he had thought, Naruto stayed asleep the rest of that day and most of the day after that, stirring as the sun set and sitting up, blinking weakly at them. When Sakura left camp to relieve herself, he fed Naruto one of his candy bars and checked his leg. It didn't look as well as he had hoped it would, thinking that the Kyuubi's chakra would have worked on it a bit, but it only looked clotted and swollen, the flesh still split wide open.

But when they broke camp, Naruto stood up on his own, only grimacing and favoring the leg, and there was a bit of color and vitality back in his skin, even if he looked as miserable as he usually did. Sasuke bent down, picking up Naruto's katana to hand it to him, but paused, noticing that this one was longer than both his and Naruto's.

"Where'd you get this one from?" he asked.

Naruto glanced over at the blade in disinterest. "Nabeshin," he muttered, looking over at a spot near Sasuke's shoulder, and he turned his head to look at the spot, seeing nothing, but understanding that his cousin was standing at his side.

"Thanks," he murmured, and felt awe when there came a brief coldness on his shoulder. "We'll get you a new body," Sasuke promised, relishing the sensation on his shoulder, before it faded, and he assumed his cousin was no longer touching him.

"Who are you talking to?" Sakura's voice ruined the moment. "Whose Nabeshin?"

Sasuke ignored her, pulling on his pack, now filled with two scrolls. "Let's go," he said, leaping into the trees, glancing back to see if Naruto was capable of following him, pleased to see the blond leap up into the trees, though he did it mostly with his left leg, and was much more clumsy than he usually was.

Hopefully, by the fifth day, he would be healed enough to participate in the third Exam, whatever that was to be.

-------------

By the time they reached the Tower, Naruto was only limping slightly, though he was back to lamenting silently over the usual things that Sasuke was used to him being upset about, like the state of his skin. Though there was a thin layer of dirt on all of them, Naruto still managed to make it seem like he was covered in complete filth by his constant wiping of his arms and hair. Sakura had taken to silently watching him- she had been doing this for the last day and a half, watching them, being very quiet. She had stopped asking questions, which was fine with him, but her watchfulness was a suspicious thing, and then, of course, because he was suspicious, he decided to toss the thought away, not wanting to sound or think like Naruto, who was suspicious of everything and everyone.

They came to a door with a tag on it, and Sasuke pushed it open, walking into an empty room. He glanced around, fingering Nabeshin's katana. Unfortunately both he and Naruto had lost theirs and Nabeshin's was too unfamiliar in his hand- the curve of the blade was stronger and the handle was a bit wider than theirs.

"I think we're supposed to open the scrolls now," Sakura's voice came from behind him, and he glanced back at her- she pointed at the wall, where a poster was taped to it. Not bothering to read the words, he tossed the Earth Scroll to her and opened the Heaven one. There was a pop and whoosh, smoke filling the room, and a red haired chunin appeared, blinking at them, then giving a thumbs up.

"Okay then, you three pass the third test. Good for you." he gestured toward another door. "I hope you're not too tired," His eyes fell upon the state in which Sakura and Naruto were in. "Because it doesn't end here. In you go."

Sasuke turned eagerly to the door, body feeling like he hadn't spent the last four and a half days in the forest, eager to test himself out again, to feel that power rush through him. As he pushed open the door, he glanced back at Naruto, who was following more slowly, slightly from the limp, but also from the usual reluctance. Sakura moved past him as he waited for Naruto to catch up.

Upon entering the room, he saw that it was filled with all the other passing ninja. He spotted the Team that the green kid was on- with the Hyuuga, who turned pale eyes on him when he entered. He saw Team Eight, and wondered how long they had been here. There were a few other Teams- he saw Kabuto, who lifted a hand in cheerful greeting. The Sand-siblings caught his eye, the red-head Gaara watching Naruto's every move. He glanced at Naruto, half expecting to see him staring the other down, but the blond was too preoccupied with the floor, which was fine with him.

He glared back at the Sand-nin, then leaned against the wall, awaiting whatever challenge that would come at him next.

It was while he was silently leaning, that he felt someone touch his neck, and was completely surprised to see that it was Naruto, a thin finger touching the bite he had on his neck, his blue eyes looking at him in question.

"It's nothing," he muttered, placing his hand over the bite- it hurt when he his hand came in contact with it. Naruto looked down at the ground again, smoothing his hood down.

He surprised him again by saying quite matter- of -factly, in his usual broken voice, "It's poison."

What was he to say to that?

The two chuunin swept the Forest of Death, searching for stragglers that hadn't passed the second part of the Exam, shaking their heads when they came across the dead bodies of several genin, some from each village. They showed more respect for a few of their own leaf-genin, but avoided identifying faces, because they didn't want to recognize any of the teenagers unfortunate enough to be killed, lest they know them or a family member of theirs..

They knew that other chunin were having luck, finding some kids that were still alive, simply injured, or a few that weren't injured at all, having had their scrolls taken, or foolish enough to open them when they weren't supposed to. For some reason, this part of the forest had been the unlucky side. Tsuyoshi shook his head when they came upon the bodies of a trio of Iwa- nin. These ones had died quickly, judging by the cleanness of the slices, though he grimaced at the one that had his head sliced at an angle.

His partner tapped him on the shoulder, and as he turned to him, the chunin pointed silently up, and he lifted his head to see a hooded boy sitting up high in the trees, legs dangling over the side of the branch.

Tsuyoshi ran up the side of the tree and stood on a branch across from the boy. The kid's feature's were obscured by the black hoodie he was wearing, but Tsuyoshi could see that he was blond and on the smaller side, with a leaf hitai-ate tied to his shoulder. He was picking absently at his pants leg, as if there was a broken thread over the knee or some type of stain there that he was attempting to get out.

"Where's your Team?" he asked the straggler, and the boy's head came up slowly, revealing bruised blue eyes on a hollow face, three line marks on each side of his sunken cheeks. The kid didn't look well, pale blue eyes looking tired and worn out. This one looked like he had lost his Teammates. Tsuyoshi winced. "What's your name kid?" he asked gently.

"Naruto," the boy rasped, eyes drifting back down to his knee, and he continued to pick at it.

"Where are you Teammates?" His partner Kouichi asked.

The boy, Naruto, looked up again, eyes drifting to the surrounding forest. "They moved on," he replied.

Tsuyoshi grimaced. "Alright, let's go back and find you sensei. What's your sensei's name?" He gestured for the boy to get up, but the kid only stared at him in disinterest. Kouichi glanced at him, shaking his head as he hopped over to the branch the kid was on and took hold of his arm, pulling him gently to his feet. Some people didn't manage to pass the most important test- the ability to cope with the loss of a Team member. This kid's ninja career was most likely finished- and most likely his psyche as well.

The kid looked up at Kouichi and spoke again. "My orders are unfinished."

Kouichi frowned, looking down at the kid he was holding by the arm. "What do you mean?"

The kid looked down at the forest floor, then at their surroundings. "He told me to observe the others. I have observed. What do I do now?"

Tsuyoshi's eyes narrowed, and he hopped over to the kid's branch where they stood. "Who told you that?"

"Naruto," the boy replied, tilting his head back to look up at him, hood falling back to reveal pale blond hair drifting down his shoulders, but it was at different lengths, as if he had taken a pair of scissors to it at different times and had not bothered to even it out.

"I thought you said your name was Naruto," Kouichi shook his head at the kid in sympathy.

"Leave him Kou," he said to the man. "It's a bunshin...a kage bunshin to be exact." Kouichi's eyes rose in surprise, and he released the bunshin, who seemed unperturbed by them. The kage bunshin was a jounin level technique; it was interesting that a mere genin was tossing that around. "Who is you sensei?" he asked the clone again.

"Hatake Kakashi," the bunshin replied. The Copy Cat Ninja. His Team would have made it through to the Prelims then, with him being a special jounin and ex-anbu captain. "Why don't you release then?" he said to the bunshin. "I'm sure you gathered enough information already. This Naruto could probably use what you have gathered." He had the ability to use the Kage bunshin, but only one or two, and they only lasted, at the most, thirty minutes. If he was correct, this one had lasted about five days now. This Naruto must have an amazing chakra reserve to make a bunshin that not only lasts five days, but apparently had enough that it was lingering around. He shouldn't be surprised that the Copy Cat Ninja had such a student. Only the best for the best.

The bunshin frowned, lifting a hand and staring down at its palm, eyes looking fascinated by the chakra created tendons. "Perhaps there is more to observe," the broken voice said, turning the thin hand over, gazing at the knuckles, then lowering them and looking up at the two chuunin. "Yes, I do not feel like returning. I will observe more."

He turned and dropped down from the tree, landing lightly on the ground, stepping silently over the bodies of the dead Iwa-nin and disappearing silently into the foliage.

Kouichi stared down at the bushes in wonder. "Are kage bunshin supposed to be like that?" he asked in curiosity.

"Like what?"

"I don't know- like they're really a person..."

Tsuyoshi shook his head. "There's a reason why that technique is generally forbidden," he muttered. "Let's go search for any stragglers, though I'm beginning to think we won't be finding any." He glanced down at the dead Iwa-nin, their bodies already decomposing.

He wondered what clan this Naruto belonged to, wishing he had asked him for his last name, since the Kage bunshin had been rather free with information. He'd ask someone back at HQ, or find Hatake Kakashi himself and ask.